


I Ain't Gonna Be Alone, Not Tonight

by DashFlintceschi



Series: Prompt Table [7]
Category: You Me At Six
Genre: M/M, Minor Reference to Drug Use, inspired by a tumblr post from like 5 years ago
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:08:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26120926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DashFlintceschi/pseuds/DashFlintceschi
Summary: Josh and Dan have been long-distance for over a year, Dan can't take it anymore, so he has a plan.
Relationships: Dan Flint/Josh Franceschi
Series: Prompt Table [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/510521





	I Ain't Gonna Be Alone, Not Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> Number 8 - Long-Distance
> 
> Title from YMAS's song IOU

Josh looks sad, the connection is shit, but Dan can see it clear as day.

“What’s wrong, babe?” He has to keep his voice down, or his roommate will start bitching again. Josh shakes his head, tries to force a smile, but it doesn’t really work.

“Nothing, I just miss you.” He keeps his voice down too, though he can clearly see Dan’s wearing earphones.

“I know, I miss you too, love. But hey, only three more weeks til I can come home for a few days.” Dan tries to soothe, but it doesn’t make those three weeks feel any less like eternity.

They’ve been in this long-distance hell for over a year now, ever since Dan got a promotion that took him to the company’s headquarters in Edinburgh. And Josh is so, so proud, of course he is, but he’d give literally anything to have more than one week every three months with his boyfriend. They text constantly, and call when they can, and spend a few hours on Skype every night, but it’s nowhere near the same. They keep saying things like ‘it won’t be for much longer’ and ‘we’ll figure out something better soon’ but it’s all just been empty promises.

Dan is done with empty promises. He has a plan. He’s already called in sick from work for the next week, apparently no-one questions it when you use phrases like ‘explosive diarrhoea’, and as soon as they end tonight’s Skype call, he’s going to drive down to London, and they’re going to figure this out. No more empty promises, just a clear, solid plan. They stay connected until Josh’s eyes start drooping, and Dan insists he go get some sleep. Normally he wouldn’t, he’d let Josh fall asleep on the call, watch him like a creep for a few minutes, then disconnect, but the sooner he can get on the road, the better.

He’s already packed a bag for the week, so the second Josh agrees he should go to bed and they hang up, Dan closes his laptop and gets out of bed. He grabs his bag and his keys, leaves a note so his roommate won’t think he’s ditching without paying rent, and heads out, huffing in annoyance as always as he works his way down the long, narrow stairs of the tenement. Whatever agreement they end up coming to, he’s already decided it’s going to include not feeling like he’s going to break his damn neck every time he leaves the house.

Dan’s been on the road for a few hours when his phone rings. He frowns in confusion, it’s almost 3 am, which only deepens when he looks at the bluetooth display on the dashboard and sees Josh’s name. He starts trying to think of reasons Josh would call him in the middle of the night, and panics slightly when he realises none of them are good, reaching out to hit the button to answer the call as quickly as he can.

“Baby? What happened? What’s wrong?” He asks, and the noise he can hear in the background, wind and traffic and something else, doesn’t help calm him.

“What? No, nothing’s happened, sorry. I just couldn’t sleep and I wanted to hear your voice and I was hoping you might be up.” Josh tells him sheepishly, and Dan deflates with relief.

“Oh, that’s okay then, as long as nothing’s wrong. Where are you?” He asks, and Josh pauses, apparently not expecting Dan to have been able to hear that he isn’t inside.

“Just out on the balcony, I thought maybe a blunt would help.” He finally answers with a soft laugh, then pauses again. “Where are you? There’s noises.” Dan curses silently to himself, he’d forgotten he has the window cracked open to keep himself alert.

“Went for a walk, I couldn’t sleep either.” He makes up on the spot, hoping it’s not too obvious he’s lying. Josh seems to accept the lie easily enough, and they talk for almost an hour. Dan would’ve happily stayed on the phone until he gets to London, but he needs to stop for petrol and he won’t pass up the chance to pee and get more coffee either, so he reluctantly lies again, says he’s made it back to his flat; not home, that place will never feel like home; and he needs to get some sleep before work. Josh sounds disappointed, no matter how hard he tries to hide it, Dan can hear it, but he accepts it and lets him hang up.

Dan had worried a few times that he’d have to stop and sleep at some point during the drive, but by the time his eyes feel gritty enough to worry about, he’s already on the outskirts of London, less than 10 miles from home. The sun is just working its way over the horizon as he parks outside their building, grateful in a way he’d never appreciated before as he takes the lift up to their floor. His phone rings again as he’s getting out of the lift, and he grins when he sees Josh’s name. Good, he won’t wake him up when he lets himself in.

“Where the fuck are you?” Josh demands before Dan can even say hello, and he frowns.

“I…” He doesn’t get the chance to say anything else before Josh is off again.

“Your roommate says you’ve gone somewhere but he has no idea where but you’ve not gone to work cause he says you’ve left a note. So where the _fuck_ are you?” He bites out quickly, and Dan is stunned as he realises what Josh is saying.

“Are you… Baby, are you in Edinburgh?” He asks, voice soft from surprise, and Josh huffs.

“Obviously, I’m in fucking Edinburgh, where the fuck are you?” He asks again, getting impatient now, which only gets worse when Dan starts laughing. “What the fuck are you laughing at? How is this funny?” He demands, and it takes Dan a few moments to calm down enough to speak.

“I’m in London, I fucking drove down to see you.” He gasps out, and then they’re both laughing, wheezing with hysterical, sleep deprived laughter, leaning against walls in communal hallways in the wrong cities because they both tried to surprise the other at the same time.

Once they calm down, Dan has Josh pass the phone to his disgruntled roommate, and convinces him to let Josh into the flat so he can get a few hours of sleep in Dan’s bed before driving back to London. Dan lets himself into their flat and crawls gratefully into their bed for the first time in far too long. When he wakes up, it’s starting to get dark, and Josh is sitting beside him on the edge of the bed, stroking his hair and staring at him with wonder.

“I can’t believe you’re here.” Josh murmurs when he notices Dan’s awake, and Dan laughs softly.

“I can’t believe we did that.” He counters, and Josh laughs with him.

“Both fucking pretending we couldn’t sleep so we didn’t have to say we were somewhere on the fucking A1.” He snorts, and Dan giggles.

“Fucking hell, we probably passed each other at some point.” He chokes out, pulling Josh down to lay on him as they laugh together at the ridiculousness of it all.

Dan had a lot of time to think while he was driving, so he has more of a plan now, which he voices a little while later, once they’ve caught their breath and are just soaking up being able to lie together like this.

“I’m gonna get transferred back to my old job, or just quit if they won’t let me. We never needed the extra money anyway, and even if we did, it’s not worth it, I’d rather be here with you and be skint.” He tells him softly, and Josh rests his chin on Dan’s chest so he can look up at him.

“I was hoping you’d say that. You’ve been miserable there, even ignoring how much we missed each other, you’ve hated that place since the day you got there.” He hums, and Dan can’t argue, even if Josh had been there with him, he’d still have hated it, something about that branch of the company just doesn’t sit right with him.

“Plus, now I don’t have to put up with those fucking stairs much longer.” Dan adds, to lighten the mood again, and Josh laughs.

“God, I always thought you were being dramatic, but they really are fucking awful.” He grins, and Dan’s not sure why he feels a little smug about that, but he does.

They spend their week together tangled up and ignoring the world. Josh goes to Edinburgh with him when he has to go back, and has already started packing up his things for him when Dan walks into his boss’s office. He admits that he lied about why he took time off; not that he needed to, his asshole roommate has already grassed him up; and gives his ultimatum. His boss doesn’t seem all that bothered as he informs him there’s no job in London for him to go back to, or when Dan quits. He knows it’s an asshole move to use his saved up time off so he doesn’t have to work his two weeks’ notice, but they’ve proven time and again that they don’t give a shit about him, so fuck them.

Dan has no idea what he’s supposed to do next, but as he drives down the A1, going home for the last time finally, Josh’s hand in his over the gearstick, he can’t find it in him to care all that much.


End file.
